memeorandum: There's A Website Giving Away Free Vibrators To Furloughed Government Workers During The Shutdown (Ryan Broderick/BuzzFeed)

5:10 PM ET, October 7, 2013

Top Items:

Zachary A. Goldfarb / Washington Post:

White House, Senate Democrats step up pressure to raise federal debt ceiling — The White House and Senate Democrats on Monday sought to increase pressure on House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to raise the federal debt ceiling — if only for several weeks — with just 10 days until …

Discussion: Post Politics, Washington Monthly, Hot Air, CNN, Outside the Beltway, VodkaPundit, Voices, Ed Driscoll, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Prairie Weather, Guardian and AEIdeas

Greg Sargent / The Plum Line:

Senate Dems to call GOP's bluff on debt limit — Senate Democrats are planning to start the process this week for a Senate vote on a clean debt limit increase, sources tell me - a move that could call the bluff of Republicans in both chambers and force them to take a stand on whether …

Discussion: National Review, Business Insider, Hullabaloo and Daily Kos

Sahil Kapur / Talking Points Memo:

White House: Obama Will Never Negotiate On The Debt Limit Again — White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that lifting the debt ceiling will be non-negotiable for as long as Barack Obama is president. — “Whether it's today, or a number of weeks from now, or a number of months from now …

Discussion: American Prospect and Little Green Footballs

Erick Erickson / RedState:

Obamacare or the Debt Ceiling — Republicans are winning the shutdown fight, and Democrats know it. — People turning on the news this week came away with the knowledge that it was about Obamacare and kept hearing that Democrats wouldn't negotiate. They also learned that for some reason …

Discussion: Wonkblog and Washington Monthly

Manu Raju / Politico:

Reid plotting to stay in power — Republicans are eager for November 2016 — and not just because Barack Obama's presidency will be in its final days. — It's when Harry Reid, the man reviled by Republicans for his inflammatory rhetoric and hardball tactics during the government shutdown, could be booted from his Nevada Senate seat.

Discussion: CNN, Washington Examiner, Ed Driscoll, Business Insider, Weasel Zippers, National Review, WJLA-TV, Connecting.the.Dots, Washington Post, Taegan Goddard's … and Jammie Wearing Fools

Jeff Zeleny / ABC News:

Senate to Move Ahead on ‘Clean’ Debt-Limit Increase — The Senate is preparing to move ahead this week on legislation to raise the nation's debt ceiling, Senate aides told ABC News, with Majority Leader Harry Reid expected to file a bill later today or Tuesday on a “clean” debt-limit increase, without any restrictions.

Discussion: Taegan Goddard's …

Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Smash-mouth Reid (Video)

Discussion: CNN, The PJ Tatler, FreedomWorks blogs and Weasel Zippers

Mario Trujillo / The Hill:
Schumer predicts Boehner will cave

Discussion: Politico

Carrie Dann / NBCNews:
Obama to Boehner: 'Hold a vote. Call a vote right now. Let's see what happens'

Discussion: Balloon Juice and Daily Kos

Reuters:
Democrats eye long-term debt ceiling hike

Discussion: National Review and Politico

Gary Langer / ABC News:

Republicans Lose Ground vs. Obama in the Shutdown Blame Game — The Republicans in Congress have lost ground against Barack Obama in blame over the government shutdown, with Americans expressing increasing criticism of both parties in Washington, while the president's avoided that rise in public ire.

Discussion: Little Green Footballs and Taegan Goddard's …

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:
Republican disapproval grows in budget battle, Post-ABC poll finds

Discussion: Pew Research Center …, Day's End Round-Up, The Plum Line, Wonkblog, Real Clear Politics, The Hill, Talking Points Memo and National Review

Paul Steinhauser / CNN: CNN Shutdown Poll: Plenty of blame to go around

Yalman Onaran / Bloomberg:

A U.S. Default Seen as Catastrophe Dwarfing Lehman's Fall — Anyone who remembers the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. little more than five years ago knows what a global financial disaster is. A U.S. government default, just weeks away if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling …

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Mediaite, The Big Picture, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, Daniel W. Drezner and Guardian

Tal Kopan / Politico:

Tom Coburn: No default if ceiling stays — Sen. Tom Coburn said Monday that warnings of a U.S. default if Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling by Oct. 17 are untrue. — “I would dispel the rumor that is going around that you hear on every newscast that if we don't raise the debt ceiling we will default on our debt.

Discussion: Power Line, National Review, neo-neocon, Washington Wire and Post Politics

NationalJournal.com:
Republicans Downplay ‘Default’, Dismiss Debt Deadline

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, ThinkProgress, Washington Monthly, The Raw Story and susiemadrak.com

Wall Street Journal:

Defects Cripple Health-Care Website — Six days into the launch of insurance marketplaces created by the new health-care law, the federal government acknowledged for the first time Sunday it needed to fix design and software problems that have kept customers from applying online for coverage.

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Hit & Run, Wonkblog, Wake up America, The Lead with Jake Tapper, National Review, The Strata-Sphere, The Gateway Pundit, Prairie Weather, First Read, Jammie Wearing Fools, The Daily Caller and Washington Free Beacon

Reuters:
Obamacare exchange websites still full of glitches and errors

Discussion: National Review and Talking Points Memo

Tom Kludt / Talking Points Memo:

GOP Rep Blames Cruz For Shutdown: ‘He Took A Lot Of Folks Into The Ditch’ (VIDEO) — A Republican congressman said Monday that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is largely responsible for the first government shutdown since 1996. — Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that while he believes …

Discussion: The Raw Story

Tracy Seipel / Mercury News:
Obamacare's winners and losers in Bay Area

Discussion: Weekly Standard, Independent Journal Review, neo-neocon, Weasel Zippers, Mediaite, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Jammie Wearing Fools, National Review, The Gateway Pundit, Pirate's Cove, Viking Pundit and The Lonely Conservative

Doug Powers / Michelle Malkin:
Obamacare epiphanies, part VII: Hey, somebody's got to pay for somebody else's ‘free’ stuff

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and Mediaite

Daniel Doherty / Townhall.com:

MSNBC Host: “I am Suggesting that” Ted Cruz Doesn't Love America — Kudos to Joe Scarborough this morning for calling out his fellow co-anchor. On Morning Joe today, Mika Brzezinski said that Senator Ted Cruz and all the other conservatives in Congress who want to defund Obamacare …

Discussion: protein wisdom

David Rutz / Washington Free Beacon:
Mika: Ted Cruz, Like-Minded Republicans Don't Love America

Discussion: Independent Journal Review and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Chris Cillizza / The Fix:

Want to know why the government is shut down? This chart explains it. — Looking for the roots of the current morass in Washington? Look no further than the chart — built by the WaPo graphics wizards — below that shows the percentage of the vote that all House Members won with in the 2012 election.

Discussion: Outside the Beltway

Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times:

TV ad in Wyoming Senate race hits Liz Cheney on gay marriage — U.S. Senate candidate Liz Cheney, right, campaigns in Emblem, Wyo., this summer at the same time as her opponent, Sen. Michael B. Enzi, left. (Dan Cepeda / Casper Star-Tribune / August 24, 2013)

Discussion: Advocate, ThinkProgress and Towleroad News #gay

Cameron Joseph / Ballot Box:
Liz Cheney hit from right on gay marriage

Discussion: Arkansas Blog, Arkansas Times, Politico and CNN

Jennifer Senior / New York Magazine:

In Conversation: Antonin Scalia — On the eve of a new Supreme Court session, the firebrand justice discusses gay rights and media echo chambers, Seinfeld and the Devil, and how much he cares about his intellectual legacy ("I don't"). — a day that just happened to be the 27th anniversary …

The Right Scoop:

AMBER WEBSITE NOW WORKING - Obama plays POLITICS with LOST CHILDREN, shuts down Amber Alert website — This is unbelievable. The Obama administration has shut down the Amber Alert website because of the government shutdown and it now renders this message when you attempt to access it:

Evan McMorris-Santoro / BuzzFeed:
Amber Alert System Unaffected By Government Shutdown, Justice Department Says

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon

David Byrne / Guardian:

If the 1% stifles New York's creative talent, I'm out of here — Rampant inequality is squeezing out the artistic genius that made New York such a vibrant cultural capital. We can't let that happen — I'm writing this in Venice, Italy. This city is a pleasantly confusing maze …

Discussion: Pitchfork and Boing Boing

Michael Barbaro / New York Times:

Anxious Allies Aiding Booker in Senate Bid — Cory A. Booker is an undisputed star of a new generation of African-American leaders, electrifying liberal audiences with his oratory and charming the social media set with his digital savvy. — But the Senate campaign Mr. Booker, a Democrat …